# Falling satellite, track it in real time! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 10, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547 "2013-11-10T03:22:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/1 "2013-11-10T03:22:41Z")
Fox News has a site that claims to be tracking the satellite due to fall to earth in a matter of hours. > [@](#): > > A defunct satellite from the European Space Agency the size of a Chevy Suburban is set to plunge to Earth somewhere between Sunday and Monday… > **[Science | Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/science/?intcmp=related)** > > Biology, astronomy, chemistry, physics on FoxNews.com. In-depth natural science news. Headlines from the worlds of biology, astronomy, chemistry and physics. As I write this, its altitude is 168 and speed 7.85, but the map doesn’t say the units. Must be either kilometers or miles and KPH or MPH. Height is increasing, but that may be due to an eccentric orbit. Over the Indian Ocean right now. Any bets where it will splash or crash down? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/2 "2013-11-10T03:24:02Z")
Why does it look like an Oreo? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/3 "2013-11-10T03:27:46Z")
You must be hungry. It looks less Oreo-ish [up close.](http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/11/09/2000-pound-satellite-to-crash-to-earth-this-weekend-somewhere/) ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/4 "2013-11-10T03:31:37Z")
Miles per _second_, right? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/5 "2013-11-10T03:46:02Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Miles per _second_, right? If it’s miles, yes, it must be per second, but I haven’t been able to find the exact units. Its nominal orbit was around 300 miles high, but that was when it was functional. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/6 "2013-11-10T03:46:20Z")
I’m sure it’s going a lot faster than 8 kph! If it’s 8 kps, that’s about 30,000 kph. My bet is it splashes. Altitude is increasing at the moment (it’s up to 174), which at first seemed odd, but I suspect that’s natural. I think it would be the natural result of reducing your velocity using propulsion. It could also happen from drag, but only if density varies considerably (rather than increasing more or less monotonically). I think I just flunked the astrophysics quiz. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/7 "2013-11-10T03:47:50Z")
And now it’s back down to 160. 174 was over Antarctica, and now it’s between Australia and Peru. Interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/8 "2013-11-10T03:52:50Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > My bet is it splashes. The odds are it will, since most of the Earth is water. > [@](#): > > Altitude is increasing at the moment (it’s up to 174), which at first seemed odd, but I suspect that’s natural. I think it would be the natural result of reducing your velocity using propulsion. It could also happen from drag, but only if density varies considerably (rather than increasing more or less monotonically). I think I just flunked the astrophysics quiz. I thought the upward swings were just due to the orbit not being perfectly circular. I watched it for about 20 minutes, during which it was streadily decreasing in altitude, and calculated it would be on the ground in less than an hour. Then when it went up, my estimate was thrown off. It’s going to take a little longer than I thought. Anyone know what the yellow dot on Austrailia signifies? A tracking station? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/9 "2013-11-10T04:00:41Z")
Here’s a different page for the same data, and this one has the units: > **[Real time satellite tracking for:](https://www.n2yo.com/?s=34602)** > > Track satellite(s) and see where are they located now. Check when there will be the next pass over your location It looks like the units on the big map (first link) are km/s for speed and km for altitude. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/10 "2013-11-10T04:11:43Z")
Your second link doesn’t work for me, but the units on the first page have to be miles per second, or maybe even nautical miles per second. During the part of the cycle that the satellite’s traveling most closely directly north or south, it covers a degree of latitude in fewer than 10 seconds. A degree of latitude is about 69 miles, and (by definition) 60 nautical miles. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/11 "2013-11-10T04:14:32Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Your second link doesn’t work for me, but the units on the first page have to be miles per second, or maybe even nautical miles per second. Nope, if the value is 7.92, it looks more like km/s. I am getting “temporarily unavailable” on the one link sometimes. Try this (has units and conversions): > **[Real time satellite tracking for:](https://www.n2yo.com/?s=34602)** > > Track satellite(s) and see where are they located now. Check when there will be the next pass over your location ETA: Sorry, same link. Must be popular right now. Here’s a clip from that page: ```auto ALTITUDE [km]: 158.74 ALTITUDE [mi]: 98.64 SPEED [km/s]: 7.91 SPEED [mi/s]: 4.92 ``` ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/12 "2013-11-10T04:14:55Z")
Instead of wild-guessing where it will put down, let’s stake out our preferences of where we’d _like_ it to go splat. Wall Street or D.C. anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/13 "2013-11-10T05:40:25Z")
I don’t know where I got that 300 mi nominal orbit figure, but it looks like 121-125 miles is more like it. The sat started out higher, and was deliberately moved over time, or allowed to decay: > **[Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Field_and_Steady-State_Ocean_Circulation_Explorer)** > > The Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) was the first of ESA's Living Planet Programme heavy satellites intended to map in unprecedented detail the Earth's gravity field. The spacecraft's primary instrumentation was a highly sensitive gravity gradiometer consisting of three pairs of accelerometers which measured gravitational gradients along three orthogonal axes. > Launched on 17 March 2009, GOCE mapped the deep structure of the Earth's mantle and probed hazardous vol... ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/14 "2013-11-10T06:52:19Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Instead of wild-guessing where it will put down, let’s stake out our preferences of where we’d _like_ it to go splat. > > Wall Street or D.C. anyone? 31.5825° N, 97.5439° W (I kid) ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/15 "2013-11-10T09:32:05Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Anyone know what the yellow dot on Austrailia signifies? A tracking station? I think it’s the suns position, right now it’s over southern Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/16 "2013-11-10T13:39:16Z")
Is the tracking site still working for anyone? Or has the craft landed? One site seems frozen, with no live updates, the other says “not available.” The last position given is mid-Pacific, altitude 185.96 km. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/17 "2013-11-10T14:36:00Z")
I opened up the link in a new window (Chrome) and it seems to be working now. 155km and rising, heading for Greenland. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/18 "2013-11-10T14:38:22Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > has the craft landed? Yes. [Photo](http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1271/4595303302_d52cf4312e_z.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/19 "2013-11-11T00:12:08Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > > [@Musicat](#): > > > > has the craft landed? > > Yes. [Photo](http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1271/4595303302_d52cf4312e_z.jpg). +1 for username/post combo. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547/20 "2013-11-11T01:46:21Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Yes. [Photo](http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1271/4595303302_d52cf4312e_z.jpg). Ha – you can’t fool me. That’s a Venusian spaceship from Zeta Reticuli. Billy Meier told me all about it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-satellite-track-it-in-real-time/673547.md?page=2)